Amy Finan

Chief Executive Officer

Amy Finan was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Sabin Vaccine Institute on April 18, 2016.

Prior to joining Sabin, Ms. Finan served as senior vice president responsible for business development at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the world's largest membership organization representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions and state biotechnology centers.

During her 11-year tenure at BIO, Ms. Finan played a critical role in expanding the organization’s membership and revenue base and implementing innovative approaches to fundraising, branding, marketing and programming. In 2011 and simultaneous with her BIO responsibilities, she also served as president of the Biotechnology Institute, an organization founded by BIO in 1998 to promote life science education.

Prior to BIO, Ms. Finan led corporate communications and investor relations for the former clinical-stage biotechnology company EntreMed Inc. Between 1999 and 2001, she created and implemented the biotech initiative of Montgomery County, Maryland, which included economic development policies, incubator programs, legislative packages and communication plans. Ms. Finan began her life sciences career as a government relations director for the National Association of Biomedical Research.

Ms. Finan studied at the London School of Economics & Political Science and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. A native of Columbus, Ohio, Ms. Finan has lived in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area for more than 30 years and currently resides in Bethesda, Maryland, with her family.

Bruce Gellin, M.D., M.P.H.

President, Global Immunization

Dr. Bruce Gellin joined the Sabin Vaccine Institute as the inaugural president of Global Immunization in March 2017. Prior to joining Sabin, Dr. Gellin served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of the National Vaccine Program Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where he was the principle technical, strategic and policy advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health on all aspects of the National Vaccine Program.

In this role, Dr. Gellin served as a technical and policy advisor to the World Health Organization, focusing on influenza vaccines and global issues of vaccine hesitancy. In addition, he represented the U.S. government on the research and development focus of the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration and led the pandemic influenza preparedness and response activities of the Global Health Security Initiative.

At HHS, Dr. Gellin was responsible for developing the National Vaccine Plan, our country's blueprint for all aspects of vaccines and immunization. He also coordinated government-wide efforts on seasonal influenza and the corresponding opportunity to strengthen the adult immunization system in the United States. In 2005, he led the creation of HHS’s first pandemic influenza preparedness and response plan. Later, during the 2009 influenza pandemic, he led the U.S. team that donated H1N1 vaccine to other countries, expanded the nation’s vaccine safety monitoring system, and coordinated interagency efforts on vaccine development, supply and distribution.

Prior to joining HHS, Dr. Gellin founded and served as executive director of the National Network for Immunization Information, worked as a medical officer at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, served as Epidemic Intelligence Service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and was a Luce Scholar in the Philippines. Dr. Gellin’s global health work includes consulting for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, chairing the World Health Organization’s Global Action Plan for Influenza Vaccines Advisory Group, working with the Children’s Vaccine Initiative, and serving as a Warren Weaver fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation. He is one of the nation’s principle spokespersons on vaccines and immunizations and has served as on the faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and Vanderbilt University Medical School. He recently was appointed to Georgetown University Medical Center’s Department of Medicine as an adjunct professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases.

In 1991, Dr. Gellin earned an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He is a graduate of Weill Cornell Medical College and was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University and later was a preventive medicine resident at Cornell and at the CDC’s Arctic Investigations Program in Anchorage, Alaska. Dr. Gellin achieved board certification in internal medicine and infectious diseases, is an active member of numerous professional organizations, and serves as a peer reviewer for over a dozen medical journals.

In 2016, the Infectious Diseases Society of America awarded Dr. Gellin with the Society Citation in recognition of his work in the field of infectious diseases, and in 2015, he was bestowed the honor of the American Medical Association’s Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service for his leadership and vision while overseeing our nation’s vaccine and immunization initiatives.

Dr. Gellin and his family have lived in Washington, D.C., for the past 15 years.

Brian Davis, CPA

Chief Operating Officer

Brian Davis has worked with the Sabin Vaccine Institute since 2005 and has served as their Chief Operating Officer since 2008. Prior to joining Sabin, Mr. Davis owned an established accounting practice in Washington, DC that served the non-profit sector in areas of life science, education, economic development and low-income housing. Mr. Davis holds CPA certificates in Maryland and the District of Columbia as well as a B.A. in Business Administration with a major in Finance from Michigan State University. Mr. Davis is a member of the American Institute of CPAs.

Maria Bianchi

Director, Administration

Maria Bianchi is the Director of Administration at the Sabin Vaccine Institute where she manages office operations. After traveling to Niger, Ms. Bianchi joined Sabin based on its mission to make a difference in the lives of the world’s children regardless of who they are or where they live.

Prior to joining Sabin in 2009, Ms. Bianchi worked as the Operations Manager for RegNet Environmental Services for 13 years. Since 2005, she has served the Girl Scouts as a Service Unit Manager, Encampment Chair, Money Manager and Recognitions Chair in addition to being a scout leader for over a decade. Ms. Bianchi graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with a major in English and a minor in art.

Ana Flavia Carvalho, MBA, M.P.H.

Director

Ana Flavia Carvalho joined the Sabin Vaccine Institute in 2003. She leads international education and advocacy projects for new and under-utilized vaccines, including Sabin's annual vaccinology course and a global network for immunization managers.

Before joining Sabin, Ms. Carvalho was the Co-founder and Manager of a construction company that built houses for low-income families in the city of Campo Grande, Brazil. She also worked as the Senior Financial Analyst for Procter & Gamble in Brazil where she was primarily involved in business and project administration.

Ms. Carvalho received her bachelor’s degree in Office Automation Technology from the University of Technology in São Paulo, Brazil, a master’s degree in business administration from the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) in Brazil and a master’s degree in public health from The George Washington University.

Denise Garrett, M.D., M.Sc.

Vice President, Typhoid Programs

Denise Garrett, M.D., M.Sc., joined Sabin Vaccine Institute in August 2015 to lead Sabin's work on typhoid. She serves as Director of the Coalition against Typhoid Secretariat and leads a large surveillance project to help determine the burden of typhoid in Asia. Dr. Garrett received her medical training in Brazil with special focus on infectious diseases, including typhoid fever.

For the past 23 years, Denise worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where she focused on international health and epidemiologic research, leading several multicenter research studies. During her tenure with CDC, Dr. Garrett led several multicenter infectious disease studies in developing and developed countries. Denise brings extensive experience collaborating with international governments, multilateral agencies, universities, private sector, non-governmental, and global health organizations to expand infectious disease control and prevention, and outbreak response programs around the world.

Tara Hayward

Vice President, Resource Development & Policy

Tara Hayward is vice president of Resource Development and Policy at the Sabin Vaccine Institute. She oversees fundraising and public policy activities supporting Sabin’s work to improve lives through immunization. With more than a decade of experience in non-profit fundraising, she has led Sabin’s efforts to secure funding from governments, foundations, corporations and high net worth individuals since 2010.

Prior to joining Sabin, Tara served as the manager of development for the International Women's Media Foundation, where she was responsible for creating and managing the infrastructure and operations of annual giving, foundation and corporate fundraising, and special events. Her prior experience also includes working for the United Nations Population Fund in Bosnia and Herzegovina and serving in the Peace Corps in Romania.

She holds a master’s degree in international development from the University of Denver in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University, where she majored in English writing.

Kathryn McGrath

Director, Communications

Kathryn McGrath is the Communications Director at the Sabin Vaccine Institute. She leads all aspects of communications for Sabin. Since working for the world’s first instant messenger and largest online community, ICQ, she has spent more than a decade helping non-profit organizations go digital.

Prior to joining Sabin, she worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York where she developed advocacy campaigns and digital content and led social media. Her work as a journalist was published in the Village Voice, OnEarth, Spin, Seattle Weekly and Teaching Tolerance, among others. She graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in English.